Will Texas politics settle down and become more moderate after the next election cycle? (Howe: employment, live)

[TxStorm72]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

I've never seen any studies or facts stating that, but what I have seen is that educated people tend to vote more democratic than republican.

Consider this the post that started the downward spiral....

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by Lucidus

Here is a nice article at Cracked (you are warned) that is relevant to this discussion.

5 Reasons Humanity Is Terrible at Democracy | Cracked.com

I think the more important thing to take away from the article is the #1 point, not the #2 point which made said article relevant to this discussion.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

If Obama wins in 2012, he still will not win Texas. Although the Hispanic demographic overwhelmingly voted for him in 2008, only 35% of Hispanics voted. He won 98% of black Texans' vote, but again low turnout.

As long as the voter turnout in Texas continues to be domiminated by white Republicans, the state will remain Repub-controlled due to the high amount of "straight ticket" voting.

I am a Repub but can't stand Perry. I personally don't want to see a more mod/lib Texas, just want a better Repub in charge

I hope I wasn't misunderstood. I've no expectation whatsoever that Obama would win TX in 2012. What I was asking was whether the rhetorical volume in Texas would decrease even if Obama wins (I would expect that it would of course decrease if a Republican were to win the White House in 2012).

[doctorjef]

So far, I'm not sensing much cause for optimism from these posts. My supposition is that much of the recent intensity of American politics comes from the tremendous financial insecurity that so many people have been experiencing, and that to the extent the economy and employment levels improve this insecurity will decrease, hence only a much reduced fringe of social activists will continue the shrill rhetoric over the usual suspects (abortion, issues revolving around social integration of homosexual persons, etc). I would think that shrillness over immigration issues would decrease, as I see that significantly fueled by economic insecurities and not a core part of the social conservative agenda (nor the liberal agenda for that matter). Perhaps that's all wishful thinking on my part.

I guess another thing I'm obliquely asking is whether the intensity of political rhetoric in Texas is likely to decrease once Perry is out of office, though I guess that won't be before 2014, so not really a part of the upcoming election cycle.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by TxStorm72

Consider this the post that started the downward spiral....

What's wrong with my post???

I simply stated I've seen statistics suggesting highly educated people are more likely to vote democrat. Was I wrong for stating that??

[busterkeaton]

My answer would be no. Especially if Pres. Obama gets reelected to another term. The rightwing is voraciously anti-Obama as would be expected, but as doctorjef eluded to, a bad economy mixed with tv/radio rhetoric feeding the public fuel for their discontentment 24 hrs a day, only magnifies things by x100.

[Backintheville2]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

I've never seen any studies or facts stating that, but what I have seen is that educated people tend to vote more democratic than republican.

I'd personally rather have common sense than too much education, lol.

[Backintheville2]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

What's wrong with my post???

I simply stated I've seen statistics suggesting highly educated people are more likely to vote democrat. Was I wrong for stating that??

Duh, yeah you were. Who did the stats, a democrat?

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

I hope I wasn't misunderstood. I've no expectation whatsoever that Obama would win TX in 2012. What I was asking was whether the rhetorical volume in Texas would decrease even if Obama wins (I would expect that it would of course decrease if a Republican were to win the White House in 2012).

Simple answer. No.

[doctorjef]

Secondary question: what do people here think it would take for Texas politics to become more centrist, moderate, and rhetorically muted? The answer to that might, of course, have to do with national trends that can be seen in other States. However, not all States have such intesely polarised government and political cultures. For example, the State where I now live could fairly be described as politically moderate overall. The more populous northern third of the State is more socially liberal-progressive, while the less populous southern two-thirds is on the whole much more socially conservative. The whole State, however, could be described as relatively fiscally conservative. Heated controversy is very much avoided by the mainline politicians, which is almost all of them.